The Santiago–Valparaíso railway is a railway line linking the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an capital city

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

with the port city of

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

History

The existing rail line between Santiago and Valparaíso was opened in 1863, and is long, single-track and designed to avoid steep gradients through mountainous terrain. Passenger service ceased on this line in 1987, and freight traffic almost non-existent since then. Proposals have existed since the 1990s to build a more direct line between the two cities for passengers and freight. The section from Valparaíso to Limache was doubled and put underground in Viña del Mar as part of the

Valparaíso Metro The Valparaíso Metro ( es, Metro Valparaíso, formerly called "Merval") is the commuter rail system serving the urban conglomeration of Gran Valparaíso, Chile. It consists of one line, long, serving 20 stations, connecting the cities of Valpar ...

Current proposals

Ferrocarril Santiago Valparaiso - 2019 y futuro

A study commissioned by EFE in 2016 outlined three different potential routes for a new Santiago–Valparaíso line, using the Chilean rail network's existing

Indian gauge , a broad gauge, is the track gauge used in India, Pakistan, western Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Chile, and on BART in San Francisco, United States. In North America, it is called Indian Gauge, Provincial, Portland, or Texas gauge. In Arg ...

, and cost between US$4–5 billion. In 2018, a proposal was submitted by the ''Tren Valparaíso Santiago'' consortium of local firm Sigdo Koppers and

China Railway Engineering Corporation The China Railway Engineering Corporation (CRECG) is a state-owned holding company of China, which is under the supervision of the State Council. The company is the major shareholder of China Railway Group Limited (CREC), its subsidiary. Hist ...

. The US$2.5 billion plan consisted of a line with four stations to be designed for passenger trains to run at up to , offering an end-to-end journey time of 45 min, around half the time currently taken by road. The line would also be suitable for freight trains operating at up to .

References

External links

Tren Valparaíso Santiago - Official site
Transport in Chile Rail transport in Chile Proposed railway lines Railway lines opened in 1863 {{Chile-rail-transport-stub